How Does Temperament Contribute to Behavior and Adjustment Problems?

From Chapter 7 of Temperament in the Classroom: Understanding Individual Differences, by Barbara K. Keogh, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2003 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Particular behaviors and particular temperaments may lead to stress and conflict in homes and in the classroom. But is there a difference between children with extreme or negative temperaments and children with behavior problems? Temperament may contribute to behavior problems, but behavior problems come in many forms and are not necessarily temperament based. Carey suggested that "temperament is a matter of style; behavioral maladjustment means substantial disturbance of social relationships, autonomy, or task performance. A volatile temper is behavioral style; social alienation due to temper is behavioral maladjustment" (1989, p. 132).

This important distinction deserves special consideration when teachers are faced with behaviors that are problems in their classrooms. Certainly, particular temperaments may predispose a child to behave in particular ways, but temperament alone does not explain problems. An important question has to do with the relationship of temperament predispositions and actual problems. Several explanations are plausible.

First, it is possible that temperament and behavior problems are expressions of the same underlying condition but that temperament is evident earlier in the child's development. That is, difficult temperament or extreme shyness evident early on may be the first indication of a behavior disorder that will emerge more clearly as the child grows older. In this interpretation, extreme temperament and behavior problems are considered to be one and the same. Certainly, there is some overlap in the content of both, especially in the constellation of temperament characteristics describing "difficult" children (e.g., distractible, intense, active, and low in persistence). As others have emphasized, however, it is important to remember that not all children with "difficult" or inhibited temperaments develop behavior problems, nor are all children with "easy" temperaments free from problems. Furthermore, individual differences in temperament are recognizable in infancy, and behavior problems appear later in a child's life. Thus, a reasonable inference is that temperament and behavior problems are at least partially independent.

A second plausible explanation is that behavior problems may develop when children's temperament or behavioral styles are reinforced and become integrated or incorporated into generalized maladaptive coping strategies (Carey, 1998). Carey suggested that a child may develop a generalized reliance on individual characteristics, for example, extreme inhibition or extreme activity, as a way of responding to stress, a coping style that is apparent across situations and over time. A child may come to consistently withdraw or act out in order to avoid demanding school tasks or unpleasant social encounters.

Consistent reliance on a maladaptive coping style over time may have broad and often negative effects. This can be seen in Caspi and Silva's (1995) "cumulative continuity effect" in which early stylistic characteristics cumulatively lead to subsequent and often negative consequences. The notion of a cumulative effect of child characteristics and environmental conditions is well illustrated in the monumental work of Werner and Smith (2001), who, for four decades, have followed a large group of individuals born on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Their findings clearly document the cumulative contribution of individual biological factors such as temperament to the interactions and transaction with environmental conditions including home and school experiences.

A third explanation for the relationship between temperament and behavior problems is an interactive one. This is based in the bi-directional or reciprocal effects model discussed earlier in Chapter 3 and is fundamental in the notion of goodness or badness of fit. In Chapter 6, it was shown that teachers have remarkably consistent views of the characteristics of "teachable children." Many of those attributes were temperament dimensions. As shown in Table 7.1, teachers have a consistent view of what behaviors are problems. For the most part, problem behaviors are those that are discrepant with teachers' expectations, and that are mismatches between children's behavior and the rules and requirements of the classroom.

Many teachers are frustrated by highly active, impulsive, and intense students, for example, because they may present major impediments to teaching, taking time and attention away from instructional content. Slow-to-adapt and inhibited children also present both instructional and management problems in classrooms, especially classrooms with high demands and limited time. Those children are frequently out of sync with the teacher and with others in the class. Children who are characteristically slow to adapt may also resist new materials and different instructional techniques. They may be seen as unmotivated, uninterested, or even lazy.

From an interactional perspective, how individual differences in temperament interact with environmental demands leads to behavior adjustment or behavior problems. In this case, temperament is a contributor to but not a direct cause of behavior problems. This view means getting away from thinking of problems as "in the child" and rather of thinking of problems in terms of the "child in context."